HYDERABAD: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) on Wednesday refused to grant interim relief to senior IPS officer Abhilasha Bisht, who was directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to immediately join the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
The tribunal, comprising judicial member Dr Lata Baswaraj Patne and administrative member Shalini Misra, heard Bisht’s plea and issued notices to the Union government and the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, asking them to respond to her contentions.
Despite the notices, the bench declined to stay the MHA’s order, emphasising that Andhra Pradesh also requires senior IPS officers. “She can go and join there, and in the meantime, we will hear the version of the Centre and adjudicate the issue,” the tribunal stated.
According to her petition, Abhilasha Bisht, a 1994-batch IPS officer, was initially allotted to the West Bengal cadre. After marrying an AP cadre IPS officer, she secured a transfer to the AP cadre in 1997. Her plea highlights the presence of two junior IPS officers, Sowmya Misra and Shikha Goel, who also moved to the AP cadre on spousal grounds before her transfer. Despite maintaining seniority above them for over two decades in the All-India seniority list, Bisht alleged that officials manipulated records during the state bifurcation, placing Sowmya Misra above her due to an earlier transfer date.